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As he floated up and out of the collapsing building that had at one tiuish below hi fro that led into the ruin of herback down into the building

For the rest of his days, the wizard wouldn&039;t be sure what convinced hi that someone was still inside, he made up hisoff his piiand tossing it to Ryld, he uttered a quick arcane phrase and began transfor himself into a loathso several times before and in fact had hunted theer days As he dropped back doard the cru to break away fros and drop into the space below, he changed froed woh the fore over the wizard&039;s natural shape: It could fly Pharaun hoped his harpy shape would be strong enough to lift whoever was still trapped inside

Halisstra seemed about to drop back down into the cavernous roorasped hold of herpii and shoved her to the side She looked up at hiave a quick shriek of surprise and horror, even as she stu tucked inside her oi,and the ot the impression she had no clue it was him She was about to attack hi with one of his clawed hands "I&039;ll go back"

He saw the flash of a dagger, and Halisstra relaxed the slightest bit, see to understand who the harpy really was He filed away for later the fact that she&039;d secreted a weapon on her person

Halisstra nodded and pushed herself up fros to his side and stepped over the opening so that he could drop through Inside, he saw Danifae flailing , as the mound of rubble shifted beneath her At that point, House Melarn was truly falling, and the two of theround itself together as the building plu itself into oblivion It al out of a hole below her, like so sucked doith the stone, but her leg edged between two large blocks, and she could not gain a sufficient grip anywhere else in order to pull her limb free

Pharaun sank quickly dohere the battle captive struggled, unfurling his wings at the last moment to slow his descent and come to hover beside the drow ferab hold of the creature before her Whether she realized it was Pharaun or not, she didn&039;t seem to care Pharaun extended his taloned feet in her direction and worked his way to within her reach She was sinking ever deeper into the debris pit It was up to her knee, and when it shifted, she arched her head back and screaony

The instant Danifae had a solid grip on hi hih to remove her from her predicaht, but also of her trapped leg - but he tugged and flapped, working to free her Finally, with one last heave, he felt the resistance give, and he was barreling upward, Danifae clinging tightly to his legs He soared toward the opening as the roo crash and a blinding cloud of dust as he shot out through the widening hole

Once free of the roo upward at all but was hovering in place as the entire structure of House Melarn fell away beneath them He saw it smash into a web street that stretched across beneath it, and when it struck the thoroughfare a glancing blow, the rubble tu as it fell If they&039;d been athemselves, the wizard realized with a shudder, he never would have been able to navigate his way out of the hole The room would have spun and tumbled with him and Danifae trapped inside

Both of them watched for a moment, awed, as the massive stone structure plummeted doard toward the botto boom, it struck somewhere far below, and the concussive impact reverberated all the way up to where they hovered

Pharaun was beginning to feel the strain of trying to fly while holding sodust that had been stirred up, he eyed as left of the web street where House Melarn had been, portions of it still afla out Instead of heading straight up toward that spot, he veered to the side, away fro broadened into a plaza it was still solid and firm As he labored in that direction, anotherHouse Melarn to the botto out into space

Thethe two of thee, which extended perhaps ten feet from the plaza and ice as wide When he was over the plaza, he sank down quickly, flapping his wings to force himself to fall off to one side rather than directly on top of Danifae The drow feht where he&039;d set her down and sprawled there, drawing deep, ragged breaths He settled down next to her, none too gently hiht swaasped for breath in the dust-choked air His li but listen to Danifae&039;s and his own panting

"That was so down next to the wizard "I don&039;t knohat sort of terror you&039;re supposed to be, but please don&039;t ever try to savelike that I&039;m liable to kill you before I know it&039;s you"

Pharaun opened one eye and looked at the warrior as he mentally ended the transformation spell and returned to his own forasps "You, my friend, would just have to extract your worthless carcass from poor Danifae&039;s predicament yourself, should you ever find it thusly trapped You haven&039;t the beauty to warrant rescuing"

The otherupon the plaza now, and as Halisstra ascended next to her battle captive attendant, she see her face in her hands, Pharaun supposed he could understand her anguish After all, her ho at the bottoe debt, wizard," Danifae said "My thanks"

Pharaun, propped up on his elbows, inclined his head in acknowledge what had possessed him to try the stunt in the first place He certainly would have felt no regret at seeing the fee to her death, but in the end, he supposed, it would have been an aaste

"I&039;m sure there are ways you and I can find for you to repay me," he deadpanned, his face s up "We both owe you I will make certain we find a suitable reward for you"

She atteenuinely warued by the suggestiveness of the drow&039;s offer He eyed the battle captive again, wondering just hoilling she was to serve as reco The look in her eyes made it clear she was not pleased, but she didn&039;t voice her displeasure as the Melarn daughter then leaned in to inspect her counterpart in what Pharaun thought was a decidedly affectionatelooked badly cut and bruised but not too ue in exasperation and said, "Now that everyone is back from the brink of death, I think it&039;s tih, we e our other supplies back at the inn"

The others nodded in agreeested, aware of the noise of fighting, invisible through the haze but definitely coer than we have to, I think"

Pharaun stood, dusting hi hispii froazed out across the city, for the first time, really, and the scene took his breath away

"We may already be too late," the wizard breathed, overawed by the devastation he could only partially see, as so low, or cloaked with thick smoke The section of Ched Nasad where House Melarn had been was alive with fla in the lanced down to where Halisstra and the other dark elf sat huddled together Halisstra looked stricken, staring off into the vastness of the city as her attendant huddled close to her and whispered soothing words

"Yes," Quenthel concurred "This will get worse, ive the two of the toward Halisstra and Danifae "I think they&039;ve earned the right to bear the us out of that deathtrap"

The weapons master pulled a black circle of cloth from a pocket of hispii, unfolded it, and threw it down upon the stone paving of the plaza It transforh for hi around inside it

"I think our return to the inn will have to wait for later," Valas said, pointing "We&039;re not in the clear yet"

When Pharaun turned his gaze tohere the scout indicated, he groaned Scores of gray dwarves were advancing in a line toward therim, crossbows and axes brandished Their front rank had formed a shield wall, while the second row prepared to fire missile weapons They werein the opposite direction with the mace Ryld had just handed to her

A host of drow soldiers and priestesses appeared out of the thick sar head on

When the fiery, smoke-choked estate finally ripped loose from the web street and tumbled into the vast depths of the city below, Aliisza looked on with a mixture of fascination and disappointment She was certain the wizard was lost to her, yet she marveled at the capacity for destruction the drow displayed They were tearing apart their own city, with the capable help of several other species She wondered what any of theain from it, but she didn&039;t really care She was just sorry she couldn&039;t enjoy any e

With her consort dead, the alu prepared to make her way out of the city She had no er would only place her at risk, however slight She would rather not have to confront a host of drow or duergar, and she certainly didn&039;t relish the thought of large a on her

Before she could follow through on her intentions to leave, though, Aliisza spied movement a little way down from where the palatial abode had been but moments before She wasn&039;t sure, for the air in the vicinity was choked with sht -

There So in the air, a wretched creature the fiend kneell enough - a bird-woripped in its talons The pair of the to stay aloft, and the harpy veered up and to the side, bearing its cargo with it

As Aliisza followed the pair&039;s progress, she caught more movement out of the corner of her eye and realized the harpy and the drow clinging to it were being followed It was the wizard&039;s co that Pharaun must be the harpy in a transmuted state, no doubt one of his ht Soed to free the just before it collapsed and vanished into the botto the way, they had picked up two additional et a better look without being seen, and when she did, her eyes narrowed That wretch Pharaun had rescued some tart, a beautiful droho, despite her current disheveled look, was obviously a lovely catch for the wizard Even as she watched, thebeside the feht his breath

Aliisza was furious, watching the le the drow She would tear that trollop&039;s eyes out herself! She would - !

Shaking with anger, she prepared to swoop in and roup settled around the pair Clenching her fists in fury, Aliisza restrained herself, but she wanted to knoas going on Quickly, she cast a spell and began to ically eavesdrop on their conversation

- e our other supplies back at the inn

Then let&039;s go quickly,she heard Pharaun sayWe don&039;t want to re, Aliisza ended the spell and flew off, still careful to avoid drawing attention She had an idea for of it

"Get off this street!" Ryld urged, pointing to a shfare that ran past a teht avoid the worst of the clash "Hurry!" the warrior co toward the side street

Pharaun heard the call of his friend and tried to turn and scramble toward the side street that Ryld had indicated, but the wizard wasn&039;t quite fast enough to avoid the press of drow strea for several feet in the opposite direction before he finally ainst a set of large stone stairs leading up to soered alongside hi for breath

"Where are the others?" the wizard asked her, aded around theht behind an to look around for a better vantage point upon which to watch for his co

The battle was raging in the plaza where Pharaun and the others had becoar stepped up to the pair of them, smiled maliciously, and raised a spiked warhah, jerking her ray dwarf&039;s asped as the as knocked out of hie of the delay to cast a spell A wide but thin fan of flaht the hugered backward, flailing at his burning beard Others in the crowd shifted andcreature, and finally the duergar fell off-balance andcollapsed, un, to the paved street

"Co Danifae by the hand and leading her, still li House, up the stairs to the top of the landing

A pair of gray dwarves started to follow the two of the loaded crossbows Pharaun spun away and yanked hispii&039;shood around hi the cloak to shield both himself and Danifae Two bolts s

He cried out froical rapier, Pharaun turned back to face the pair of duergar,weapon toward theray dwarf, but the second one scrambled past the enchanted weapon and clambered up the steps toward him

A blur of fur and claws landed on the steps between the ar, spraying gouts of blood in every direction The huht, his array dwarf saw the fate of his co red said, bounding back down into the crowd "I will get the others"

Pharaun considered whether to obey the draegloth or ignore the beast He would be et up on top of the building, but he knew that Danifae was unable to follow him, should he choose to levitate there He decided to await the return of Quenthel&039;s pet

"Back in here," he said to Danifae, stepping into the deeper darkness of the entryway and pulling her in after him

Fro so exposed

Danifae pressed against Pharaun, trying to re The ht back, while at the sa such a time

It&039;s not like you&039;ve never enjoyed the feel of the flesh before, he chided hih whether her contact with him was purely happenstance or calculated, he wasn&039;t sure

The two of thered reappeared after a couple of red cut a swath through the croith his oversized clahile the drow protected the fiend&039;s back As the duo forced their way through the throng loth&039;s fierce strikes Finally, they reached the stairs and hurried up to the landing

"We&039;re here," Pharaun said, gesturing for Quenthel and Jeggred to join hi over their head, "We can see red nodded and grabbed Danifae Together, they began to levitate upward, reaching a spot on the roof that overlooked the sea of clashing bodies below Pharaun and Quenthel followed quickly The four of them settled down atop the rounded surface and dropped loanting to avoid creating too large a profile against the backdrop of the city Pharaun did a careful inspection of the city streets one levelup, trying to ascertain whether or not they&039;d been noticed from there It appeared that they had not

"Do you see them?" Quenthel asked no one in particular, and Pharaun returned his attention to the scene below

The battle still raged, but it was beginning to thin so," the Master of Sorcere replied, and Danifae also shook her head

"The warrior went running that way," the battle captive said, pointing toward a side street on the opposite side of the square "I think Halisstra followed hiet there, but the surge was toodies doe can try to reach them"

"What about Valas?" Quenthel said "What happened to him?"